Here's What You Can Buy At The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. — And How The Store Is Secretly Saving The World

The store is located in
Park Slope, Brooklyn, an increasingly hip and family-friendly
neighborhood.Richard Feloni/Business
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The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. promises all aspiring heroes
passing its storefront that it can help with a "nemesis problem"
with its "full capery" and "special programs for telepaths." A
small chalkboard advertises products like a grappling hook or
X-Ray vision powder.

Some people don't know what to make of it. When we visited
recently, a young couple walked in and smiled at the displayed
superhero gear. After eyeing an air cannon, picking up a villain
net, and taking photos with the Rilling Brand Mind Reader, they
asked the employee tending the store what many visitors wonder:
"What is all this?"

Besides toys, there are
also collections of students' writing
available.Richard Feloni/Business
Insider

Behind a secret door in the Superhero Supply Co. is a spacious
learning center where students ages 6 to 18 participate in
creative writing programs and get homework help. Even though the
company's main purpose is education, as part of the 826 network,
it is not a typical nonprofit.

"We want people to get lost in the idea of a superhero store,"
says store manager Chris Molnar. "We don't want to beat them over
the head with our programs. We want to keep the magic."

By adding a level of mystery and fun to the nonprofit model,
Molnar explains, the store draws in potential students and
volunteers intrigued by a superhero supply company and manages to
make seeing a tutor a fun experience for kids.

Molnar packages all of the products in the store's basement,
giving often-mundane objects new life through creative labeling
and descriptions. All the profits go toward funding the store's
operations and educational programs.

Some of the toys are repurposed surplus goods, like suction cups
that kids can imagine scaling buildings with:

Richard Feloni/Business
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Other items are dollar-store toys that suddenly become much
cooler with a dose of imagination, like the Galactic Light
Blaster:

Richard Feloni/Business
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The disguise kits are dossiers instructing you on how to adopt a
new persona, like Skylar the American baby or Franklin Shade:

Richard Feloni/Business
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Some of the items are essentially conversation starters to keep
around the house, like X-Ray vision and speed of light powders:

Richard Feloni/Business
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If you're looking to transform yourself into a cyborg, the
store's got you covered:

Richard Feloni/Business
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Need a cape to go with your new gear? Try one on and turn on a
machine that will let you test out how the wind will grab it when
you're fighting crime. 826
New York volunteer Zoe Schwab modeled for us:

Richard Feloni/Business
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If you're doubting your zeal for justice, you can go into the
villain chamber and answer a series of questions to see how you
stack up. We were diagnosed as "mischievous" and had to recite a
creed to purge us of our villainy:

Richard Feloni/Business
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Sales of the toys go toward keeping the store up and running, but
the Superhero Supply Co. and the other seven 826 National stores
are mainly funded through the support of foundations,
corporations, and private donors, 826 National CEO Gerald
Richards tells us.

Richards says 826 National is in a growth phase and is
considering expanding into Minneapolis and Philadelphia. Wiley
will publish a series of 826 workbooks early next year, funded by
Time Warner Cable.

The Superhero Supply Co. is also doing well and growing, Molnar
says.

Its team of 250 volunteers, five staff members, and a handful of
interns helped tutor over 2,300 students in the 2013-2014 school
year, Marianna Lockington, 826 New York's director of education,
tells us.

She says that the team reaches out to schools across New York
City, and teachers and parents create buzz through word of mouth.

One of its programs is a field trip for younger students who get
to poke around the shop before they're taken through the secret
door and told to write a book. Before they leave, they pose with
a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses (on sale in the front) for
their author photos. Some are collected on a bookcase in the
tutoring room:

Richard Feloni/Business
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The back is decorated with framed stories by some of the younger
writers who have passed through. We'll leave you with this one: